Apple Is Already Getting Sued After Admitting It Slows Down Old iPhones

No, you’re not crazy: on Wednesday, Apple confirmed a longstanding conspiracy theory, admitting that it has been throttling the performance of older iPhones since 2016. In a statement, Apple said its goal in doing so was not to force users to upgrade their phones but to avoid unexpected shutdowns: “Lithium-ion batteries become less capable of supplying peak current demands when in cold conditions, [when they] have a low battery charge or as they age over time, which can result in the device unexpectedly shutting down to protect its electronic components,” the statement read.

However well-intentioned, the company’s tactics have now resulted in two class-action lawsuits. The first, filed by iPhone users Stefan Bogdanovich and Dakota Speas in California, claims that slowing down phones causes users to suffer; both customers claim they “suffered interferences to their iPhone usage due to the intentional slowdowns.” Another suit was filed on Thursday by five customers from Illinois, Ohio, North Carolina, and Indiana, who own iPhone models ranging from the iPhone 5 to the iPhone 7. The latter suit accuses Apple of “deceptive, immoral, and unethical” practices and claims Apple’s iOS updates “purposefully slow down or ‘throttle down’ the performance speeds” of iPhones. (Apple has so far declined to comment on either suit.)

Apple customers have long suspected the company of meddling with their devices: ”Do you think that Apple is intentionally slowing down iPhone OS when a new model has been released?” a Yahoo Answers user asked in 2012. But Apple fanatics have come gradually closer to cracking the case: last week Reddit sleuths noted that just after the battery on an old iPhone was replaced the device’s benchmark tests, which measure its processor speeds, saw an uptick in performance. Days later Geekbench, which runs a commonly used iOS speed test, seemed to confirm the theory.

Apple claims its aim in throttling iPhone speeds is altruistic; it wants to help its users get the most out of their older batteries. While this may very well be the case, the fact that the company obscured this for years and communicated it so poorly to consumers has drawn condemnations from its most devout fans. Even John Gruber, who blogs about Apple under the pseudonym Daring Fireball, said that the company should have communicated with customers in a more forthcoming manner. Nevertheless, he maintains that Apple does not fall into the category of insidious tech companies seeking to undermine users: “Such cynicism is understandable, but Apple is not Uber.”